


When Good Ideas Get Better

by ingberry



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Time, M/M, Mutual Masturbation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-25
Updated: 2013-03-25
Packaged: 2017-12-06 12:46:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/735840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ingberry/pseuds/ingberry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Arthur and Merlin are mates who share an innocent wank once in a while.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Good Ideas Get Better

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this prompt](http://alby-mangroves.livejournal.com/23063.html?thread=514583#t514583) at The Wanking Comment Fest! (Just the fest we all needed, let's be real!)
> 
> Prompt:  
>  _After school on Thursdays, when Hunith always works late, Arthur goes to Merlin's house and they watch porn. What's a friendly wank or two between bros, right? Nevermind all the sneaky sideways glaces they steal, it's a totally straight affair. For reals. Honestly._
> 
> Has undergone a minor round of edits, but not a whole lot, so I apologise for any mistakes! Thanks to emjayelle for looking it over real quick for me.

“Fuck Gaius for keeping me on a _Thursday_. Bloke fucking hates me.”

“That’s rubbish, Arthur, he just doesn’t put up with your bullshit like everyone else.”

“He gave me detention three times last week! I might as well get a fucking overnight room.”

“Maybe you should stop stalking Gwen,” Merlin says as he throws the front door open, dropping his backpack to the floor, “and no one would have to give you detention for being a dickbag.”

“It’s not stalking, it’s _seducing_.”

Merlin fixes him an unimpressed look and Arthur barely resists making a face at him like they’re still in elementary school. He toes off his shoes, leaving his backpack next to Merlin’s, and follows him into the house.

“You should keep doing that,” Merlin deadpans. “It’s working really well for you.”

“Fuck you,” Arthur says lightly, opening the fridge like it’s his own and nicks a bottle of pop from the shelf in the door.

“Yeah, well, thanks to your _seducing_ , we only have an hour and a half until Mam gets back.”

Arthur mutters under his breath, cursing Gaius for always knowing when he’s about to do something he probably shouldn’t. “At least tell me you downloaded something new.”

They head upstairs after they’ve bickered in the kitchen for a while, drinking pop and arguing about whether or not Gwen is worth getting detention over. Merlin, the heathen, thinks Mithian is much more worthy of detention, but he’s clearly wrong. He’s so wrong that Arthur is starting to question whether or not he’s cut out for the task of choosing their weekly porn, or if Arthur should start taking over for the good of them both.

Arthur throws himself down onto Merlin’s bed, bouncing a little as the bed creaks in protest. Merlin has long since stopped asking him to be careful and just accepted the fact that Arthur and bouncy beds is forever a thing. He settles himself as Merlin angles his desktop towards the bed and bends over to click through his files.

They’ve done this a total of five times and it’s still a mixture of confusing, exciting and bizarre. But mates do this, yeah? That’s what Arthur’s come to decide, anyway. It really only started because Merlin has the house to himself when his mum works late and Arthur always has the bloody housekeeper and Morgana around, not to mention the fact that his father has gotten this newfound guilt over never being around, so he keeps working from home and _hovering_ around Arthur like he can undo 17 years of absence by staring at Arthur eating sandwiches.

So, really, it’s not like Arthur gets any private time anyway, so he might as well share it with Merlin.

When Merlin sits down next to him, it’s with the usual distance. They don’t sit close enough for their legs or arms to touch, because that would definitely be weirder. Definitely. Even if it’s already kind of weird to know what your mate’s face looks like when he comes.

“I’m going to have to take over porn duty,” Arthur says after he’s popped open the button of his jeans and the guy behind the camera is still asking two girls a whole bunch of asinine questions. “Why do they think we want interviews? It’s not the BBC, is it.”

“It’s for more elaborate fantasies,” Merlin says, rolling his eyes. “Gives you more to work it.”

“I don’t need more to work with, I just need someone’s dick to fuck her.”

“Yeah, well, you would.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Merlin ignores him, slipping a hand below the waistline of his boxers as something finally begins to happen on screen. Arthur feels his cheeks heat up, the warmth slowly spreading through the rest of him in a familiar rush. He always ends up feeling impossibly hot and flushed and sometimes he wonders what he looks like.

Maybe he needs to needle Merlin about buying a mirror.

Arthur stops paying attention to Merlin’s hands, gluing his eyes to the screen where the girls are undressing each other, sometimes meeting in a slow, deep kiss, their hands running unhurriedly over skin as the clothes disappear. He just watches for a moment, letting it progress as his cock fills, enjoying the anticipation that builds as his hand just rests on his thigh – close, but not touching.

He knows Merlin has started long ago. Merlin is impatient, always tugging himself out of his boxers as soon as the first touch happens on screen. He can feel the rhythm Merlin sets up. The bed moves just a little under him and he can hear the rustle of Merlin’s jeans where his arm moves over it.

The whole thing had definitely started because Arthur has next to no private time at home, but it has admittedly continued because wanking with someone else feels like one step up from wanking alone. There’s something exhilarating in knowing that the person next to you is touching themselves, that they know _you’re_ touching yourself.

Having sex (even with yourself) next to someone else is just one step away from having sex _with_ someone else, after all.

As things finally progress on screen, Arthur closes his hand firmly around his cock, pulling it out of his boxers. He watches, unblinking, as the two guys that have appeared bend the girls over the bed and fuck into them. The moans come almost non-stop and they’re too shrill and too put on for Arthur’s tastes, but if he focuses on the way the skin clings to that guy’s cock instead, it’s so much better.

His movements are slow as he slides his hand down on his cock, his grip tight and hot, but still not nearly enough. He likes it that way – he likes the way it makes him want more, the way it starts out with the promise of something more. Picturing himself fucking the girl hard into the bed, he runs his thumb under the head of his cock, humming softly at the feeling.

When he starts pumping himself faster, giving into the need for more friction, he wonders what it’d be like if Merlin was fucking someone next to him. What if he could see Merlin biting his lip as his long fingers dug into someone’s hips? His hand tightens involuntarily around his cock and he bucks into it, breath hitching.

He opens his eyes and casts a sideways glance at Merlin who seemed absolutely gone, his eyes closed. He’s watched before, of course. He had to know what someone else’s cock looks like when it’s hard, right? Plus, he’s fascinated by the way Merlin wanks like he’ll never get the chance to again. He always pulls himself into his hand immediately, stroking himself off with a fast, steady rhythm until his cheeks are bright red and his breath comes in gasps.

Arthur twists his hand a little around his cock, not able to look away from Merlin’s hips hitching up into his own grip, pre-come leaking from the tip and down the shaft, sticky between Merlin’s fingers.

Swallowing against a groan, Arthur closes his eyes for a moment, wondering what Merlin’s fingers might feel like on his own cock. They’re more slender, longer and softer. They’d probably be soft and careful at first, before they’d press harder, and definitely fast because Merlin seems to be incapable of holding back. The thought makes him smile, even as his cock hardens so fast in his grip that he feels dizzy.

His mouth is dry and he licks his lips, trying to stop thinking about Merlin while he’s getting off, but now that he’s started it’s just impossible to stop. He thinks about Merlin’s cock, hard and thick between those fingers. He wonders what it feels like – if it feels like his own or completely different. He wonders how Merlin might react if he takes it in his own hand, jerking him slowly and teasingly in the exact opposite way to what Merlin does to himself.

Arthur is so far gone. He hasn’t been this turned on since they started doing this and he feels almost a little uncomfortably out of control with Merlin right there. For the first time, he wants them to touch. He doesn’t want the safe space between them, he wants to feel Merlin pressed against his side.

Moving his hand fast and sloppy over his cock, he bites down on a moan and moves his leg just a little to the side. It’s just enough to feel the heat from Merlin’s body against his and his hips stutter when he comes with ragged breaths, pulling the orgasm out of himself with the desperate movements of his hand.

He opens his eyes just in time to see Merlin staring at him wide-eyed for a moment before come shoots onto his t-shirt, his stomach heaving.

Arthur should probably have known this would escalate. He really should’ve known. But he’ll care about that later, because right now he only manages to throw an arm over his eyes and breathe.

***

It’s embarrassing to admit, but he kind of ignores Merlin at school the day after. Not in a mean-spirited way. They talk briefly during lunch, but that’s safe because everyone else is there too. And they don’t share any classes together on Friday anyway. But on any other Friday, Arthur might’ve sought him out more. He might’ve slipped a stupid note into Merlin’s locker or thrown a pencil at his head just for laughs. Or retold that crude joke he just heard from Gwaine.

But today he needs space. He just needs to breathe properly. And he needs to not look at Merlin and wonder how his cock would feel in Arthur’s hand. He definitely needs to digest the epiphany he just had about Gwen and how his Excellent Seducing Scheme started the same week he started his whole thing with Merlin.

They’re mates. Mates who get off together to extremely straight porn. It’s really that simple.

Except he didn’t exactly get off to the porn yesterday, did he?

He’s not stupid enough to fool himself into thinking he even knows what happened in the porno after the first bit of enthusiastic fucking.

He assumes someone came on someone else and then someone licked come off of something or other, but for all he knows they could’ve morphed into aliens and taken off in a spaceship shaped like a purple dildo.

People can say a lot about Arthur, really, and most of the unflattering things about him would probably be true. But he’s not an idiot. He knows he came so hard it bordered on painful thinking about his best mate and he _also_ knows Merlin definitely wasn’t watching the screen when he came either.

So there it is.

It’s his big gay epiphany. Huzzah!

There are no fireworks or explosions. He doesn’t even drop his pencil. So it’s a little anti-climactic, really. Although he supposes it was plenty climactic yesterday.

Also, it might freak his father out so much he starts going back to work again.

***

There’s a party at Edwin’s and it’s pretty brilliant, so far. None of them actually know him, but his mum’s out of town, so obviously everyone was invited. Or well, not so much invited as everyone just decided to go.

Admittedly, Arthur doesn’t really know how the party is going elsewhere in the house, but it’s definitely going pretty well in what he thinks is Edwin’s room where Merlin is on the bed, leaning back on his elbows with his quickly hardening cock curving up against his stomach. Arthur doesn’t even try to pretend this isn’t exactly how he planned for the night to go.

Because there were many plans. Graphic plans, even. That he thought up while in the shower. With a hand on his cock.

“We’ve been getting off to straight porn.” Merlin sounds confused and he still looks a little dazed about the whole thing.

“Yes, well.” Arthur pulls his shirt up over his head and thumbs open his jeans. “It seems like that might have been the wrong choice.” He stops, hand on the zipper. “Unless that’s what you want?”

Merlin shakes his head vigorously, eyes glued to Arthur’s hand. “God, no, I didn’t even watch the screen. I thought that was what you wanted.”

“Turns out I really like your dick,” Arthur says lightly, climbing onto the bed until he’s straddling Merlin’s hips. “A lot.”

“Oh.” Merlin looks down at where his jeans are open, his cock standing hard against his stomach. “Oh, good. That’s... excellent, actually. I didn’t really know that was an option. Uhm.”

Arthur grins, pulling down the zipper on his jeans because his hard-on was starting to press painfully against it. He clamps his thighs around Merlin’s, sitting astride them as he looks down at the spot where the head of Merlin’s cock is leaking. Arthur reaches out and pushes his t-shirt out the way, trying to avoid the stains that would be difficult to explain later.

His hand runs over Merlin’s stomach and the muscles contract under his palm as Merlin’s breath rushes out. Arthur licks his lips as he watches the come leaking out onto Merlin’s skin.

“Oh, god,” Merlin croaks.

Arthur looks up, smirking at him. Fuck, he really loves the anticipation. He loves waiting for it, knowing it’s going to happen and this time it’s even better because he’s having actual sex. With someone who isn’t him – with someone who is kind of perfect and who is currently biting his lip, looking at Arthur with wide eyes.

Arthur reaches out, brushing his hand over Merlin’s jeans and the waistband of his boxers, pulling them down even further. He watches Merlin as he does, because he wants to know how Merlin deals with not getting the instant gratification. Merlin looks like every muscle in his body is coiled tight, waiting.

The first touch to Merlin’s cock is featherlight and teasing, brushing around the base of it. Merlin shakes a little with the effort of keeping himself up on his elbows, breathing hard as he stares at Arthur’s hand. Studying him, Arthur takes him in a steady grip, squeezing a little before he gives a sharp tug.

Every muscle in Merlin’s body lets go and he sinks back onto the mattress, boneless. Arthur watches with his heart hammering like mad in his chest, fighting every instinct to just pull the orgasm out of Merlin like he himself seems to do. But he wants to do it slow. And he does, thumbing at the head of it, sliding his fingers languidly up along the shaft.

It’s warm and heavy in his hand. Different than his own, but familiar too. He likes the way every movement he does seems like it’s connected to Merlin in some way, coaxing some kind of reaction out of him like a hitch of his breath or a deep, rumbling moan.

“Arthur,” Merlin says like the name is punched out of him. “Oh my god, I...”

Arthur’s hand tightens involuntarily around him at the sound of his name, losing all the patience he has when he jerks himself and starts pumping him quickly, steadying himself with a hand on Merlin’s thigh.

“Oh, _Oh_.” Merlin pushes his head back into the bed, his long neck looking like an invitation. “Fuck, you don’t... you don’t know how fucking pleased I am you like dick.”

Laughing, Arthur’s rhythm falters a little, but it doesn’t seem to matter because Merlin comes with a loud keening sound, his head thrown to the side. His bottom lip is trapped between his teeth and his hands are clutching at the covers.

Arthur loses his breath at the sight, moving his sticky fingers from Merlin’s cock to his own. Oh god, that’s Merlin’s come making the movement of his hand slick and easy and perfect. He drops his head forwards, his other hand digging into Merlin’s jeans.

He loses it the moment Merlin’s hand wraps around his. Struggling to breathe properly, he slumps forwards and steadies himself with a hand on the bed, his come spilling out over Merlin’s stomach.

Breathing hard, he tips to the side, spreading out over the bed and slinging his arms out. One arm hits Merlin’ in the chest and Merlin grumbles, pushing it down. Arthur’s hand lands in their combined mess and he makes a face, wiping it on the covers.

Merlin snorts. “This is Edwin’s bed, mate. I doubt he’ll be well pleased with that.”

“Fuck that, I don’t even know him.”

Laughing hysterically, Merlin waves a hand in the direction of Arthur’s face. “You’re an arsehole.”

Arthur just hums, catching Merlin’s hand and entwining their fingers. “If you have any straight porn on your laptop when I come by next time, we’re over.”


End file.
